March 2008
Well the Mini Eggs proved very popular. We gave out 168 tubes and are looking forward to getting them all back at Easter. I've had three tubes back already but there's no hurry - just keep filling them up with whatever change comes to hand. We'll have collection boxes out closer to Easter.
Our next two planned events are a concert and a table top sale. The Gemini choir gave us a very popular concert at the start of our campaign and are coming back on April 26th. Tickets are £8 each and include refreshments.
The Table Top Sale will be on May 10th. Tables are £5 each from Karen. Phone Karen too if you've anything you'd like to contribute to our table. We can't take electrical items or things that are too large but she'll be able to tell you what's suitable and whether we'll be able to collect it.
We'll also be announcing a sponsorship plan soon. This will probably be your only chance to commemorate a special event or remember a loved one by sponsoring a bell or some other component of the restoration. The sponsors' names and their dedications will be recorded in church as a lasting recognition of their contribution.
We're waiting for the official figure from the account but we believe that we've reached £15,000 - a quarter of the way to our target. It still means we have got a long way to go but we can now start applying for larger grants. All of the money so far has come from the villagers of Alvechurch and we are very grateful for your generosity. It means we've got solid proof that the community is behind us and that's important to the bodies giving out grants.If you want to follow our activities in ringing and fundraising then you can visit our new blog. It's being run by one of our younger ringers and for those of us who are out of touch with such matters a blog is a "web log". It's an on-line diary where the readers can add their own comments to the diary entries. Go to http://alvechurchbells.blogspot.com/ and see what we're doing. The entries are updated fortnightly or whenever anything exciting happens.